The first set of locks were completed at Trollhattan in 1800 as part of the Trollhatte Canal to connect Gothenburg on the Swedish west coast with the industry in Lake Vanern. In 1844 a second set of locks was constructed to match the maximum dimensions of the newly-completed Gota Canal, allowing ships to travel between...

The Dalsland Canal was conceived in the mid-1800s to provide a communications route through roadless areas of western Sweden. Only short sections of canal between large lakes would need to be built, so the construction was relatively cost-effective. Haverud rapids, however, were a major obstacle. Nils Ericson, the designer of the Trollhatte Canal and the...

The Trollhattan Falls have been a tourist attraction since the 18th century, but no longer flow since the Gota Alv river was dammed for power in the early 1900s. At scheduled times in the summer, the falls are released as a tourist attraction, sending over 300,000 liters of water pour second gushing into the gorge....

Envoy is currently anchored at Lefkada Island.
With Envoy's new owners, Larry and Catherine aboard we have left Italy's Santa Maria di Leuca at first light bound for Greece.
For those who don't know, an EPRB is an emergency position indicating radio beacon and when activated provides rescue authorities with your vessel details and position. You wouldn't use it unless in case of dire emergency combined with inability to give your position by VHF radio.
Just north of the Greek island of Othoni our old EPIRB with an expired battery, which I had kept on board activated by itself. This causes a Coastguard boat to come out from Othoni island to check we are OK as well as radio calls from Olympia Radio, the Greek rescue authorities. We explain both by VHF radio to Olympia Radio and in person to the Coastguard people alongside us that the EPIRB had activated by itself with no human intervention and I thought that might be the end of it – but no such luck. The Coastguard said we would have t...

After a busy, but fun, couple of weeks along the Gota Canal, we took it easy for a few days to enjoy some lake cruising on Lake Vanern and catch up on a few boat projects before heading through the Trollhatte Canal and back to sea level. 2,180 sq mi (5,650 sq km) Lake Vanern...

The medieval castle Lacko Slott is a dramatic sight at the south end of Lake Vanern, Sweden. Construction of the castle began in the 13th century as a bishop’s fort and it became a royal castle under King Gustav Vasa in the 16th century. The fortification was expanded and renovated over the next four centuries...

Twelve days after we’d entered at Mem, we exited the Gota Canal at Sjotorp. We likely would have spent a few more days along the canal at a slightly slower pace, but the following day the canal switches from the high season, where locks are individually manned and boaters can pass through on their own...

Envoy is currently cruising to Preveza, mainland Greece. Still having problems loading images so that's why there's not many.
Late in the evening of Sunday 28 July we arrive back to Envoy berthed at Taranto in Italy. There's a 20 knot wind blowing and the boat is moving around making it tricky to get our luggage back aboard across a bouncing passarelle. All is as we left it except that we inadvertently closed the fridge door (we usually leave it wedged open when its not operating) and in the high heat a bit of mould had formed inside. However this is soon cleaned up.
Next day the marina lends us a car and driver to take us to a supermarket a couple of km away where we do a huge shop to re-supply. It's fun in these smallish and unfamiliar Med supermarkets, but there always seems to be a shortage of trolleys.
Taranto is interesting but seems a bit run down with a lot of derelict, unoccupied buildings.
Next day we cruise back to Porti di Caesareo – already mentioned previously. Some ...

It’s getting increasingly difficult for the general public to see the details behind large commercial ships and even harder to tour chemical and oil tankers. Partly the crews are busy at work and partly there are safety and security concerns, but the net result is limited ability to see the details behind how these advanced...

The Early Path Predictions for This Storm Covered a Huge Area. Marinas &
Boat Owners Had to Make Decisions Early.
From August through October hurricanes are an annoying but normal part of life in Florida. The damned things are inevitable, and with climate change accelerating at an alarming pace they are also getting more frequent and stronger. And that’s why we always give ourselves a bailout option. This year we knew we would be stuck in Florida for the tropical storm season, so we signed up for the hurricane club at the River Forest Yachting Center (RFYC) in Labelle, Fl. That facility is 40 miles up-river from our Fort Myers (Legacy Harbour) mooring, with two locks (meaning no storm surge) between it and the open ocean, and with an expansive apron of concrete dotted with embedded tie-down anchors. It was designed specifically to offer safe harbor from big blows.
Our Satellite Tracker Path from Fort Myers to River Forest Yachting Center
Near Labelle, Florida.
When the foreca...

The section of the Gota Canal that runs through Lake Viken is among the most scenic, through several narrow one-way channels, and open areas dotted with islets. It also the highest point along the canal, at 301.2 ft (91.8 m) above sea level. On our 11th day along the Gota Canal, we passed through eleven...

This has been an uneventful passage thus far. Uneventful is as good as it gets! The only glitch has been the leaking swimstep hatch which the manufacturer just adjusted the day before our departure. Obviously that didn't work! They say they will come to Hawaii to make it right. Stay tuned. The weather was calm enough for me to open the lazarette hatch and wash the salt out of the things that got drowned in the flooded swimstep. I'm not sure what the official definition of a lazarette is, but t...
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Karlsborg Fortress stands on the western shore of Lake Vattern in inland Sweden and was one of the largest fortresses in Europe at 250-acres (100 hectares). The idea was concentrate the Swedish forces in a central location and allow the enemy to move across the land, be tired out by small-scale skirmishes and eventually be...

9/2 0800 position 22-13N 159-30W. At anchor in Hanalei Bay in 30 feet, sand bottom. As the mighty Starr entered Hanalei Bay yesterday morning we could see pal Mitch Haynie tow in surfing on his foiling board on the reef at the entrance to the bay. Lori told me by email that he'd be out there this morning, taking advantage of the season's first big north swell. Fortunately, the swell wasn't big enough to ruin the Hanalei anchorage, but it will ruin our plans to head down to some of my favorite a...

9/1 0600 position 22-28N 159-12W. Wind NE@9 knots. Seas 3 feet. 21 miles from Hanalei. When I came on watch at 1AM this morning I could just see the loom of Honolulu's lights off to the south. We never did see any lights on Kauai. Dawn broke this morning when we were still thirty miles from Hanalei, too far offshore to see lights on shore there. We get a bit stir crazy during the night watches aboard Starr, staring at the instruments with nothing else happening. Clay noticed that our log, the...

Vadstena Castle was built as a fortress in 1545, but soon converted into a palace, and is a notable example of Swedish Renaissance architecture. The city also is known for being the site where Saint Bridget of Sweden founded the first monastery of her Bridgettine Order in 1350. Vadstena is a few miles south of...

This is Noodle's 8/31 blog post: '0600 position 25-17N 156-31W. Wind E@4kts. Seas 2 feet. 245 miles to Hanalei. I'm sure Fred's advice on the lures was correct, but when the ocean is full of mahi mahi, and not ahi, mahi is what you catch. We put an ahi lure out and caught three more mahi in quick succession, just keeping the last and largest one. We hooked up the second fish before the lure was even all the way out again after releasing the first one. The second was probably one of the first f...

This has been an uneventful passage thus far. Uneventful is as good as it gets! The only glitch has been the leaking swimstep hatch which the manufacturer just adjusted the day before our departure. Obviously that didn't work! They say they will come to Hawaii to make it right. Stay tuned. The weather was calm enough for me to open the lazarette hatch and wash the salt out of the things that got drowned in the flooded swimstep. I'm not sure what the official definition of a lazarette is, but t...

This has been an uneventful passage thus far. Uneventful is as good as it gets! The only glitch has been the leaking swimstep hatch which the manufacturer just adjusted the day before our departure. Obviously that didn't work! They say they will come to Hawaii to make it right. Stay tuned. The weather was calm enough for me to open the lazarette hatch and wash the salt out of the things that got drowned in the flooded swimstep. I'm not sure what the official definition of a lazarette is, but t...

8/30 0600 position 27-55N 153-50W. Wind E@4kts. Seas flat. 457 miles from Hanalei. Yesterday morning we decided it was time to bust out the fishing gear again and snag something for dinner. Within an hour we had landed two mahi mahi. The first went into the freezer. We threw the second one back and put away the rod and reel. Not bad. We've fished for just over an hour total and landed three mahi mahi. The skipper declared that we've caught enough mahi. It was time to catch some ahi. How do we ...

One of the aspects of voyaging that I most enjoy is observing the subtle changes in environmental conditions as the vessel moves across the ocean. Upon assuming the watch on 'Starr' we make logbook entries including date, time, position, total miles, speed, course, engine RPM, fuel burn rate, and alternator charging rate. We also record barometric pressure, air and sea temperatures, sea state, cloud cover, wind direction and speed, and anything else of note. Taken as a group, the record of the e...

This is Noodle's 8/29 blog post: '0600 position 30-26N 151-05W. Wind NW@3kts. Seas 2 feet and confused. The forecast showed that the southwesterly headwinds we experienced yesterday morning would be light and short lived. They were neither. The wind slowly increased as the day progressed, and after dark last night it was up near twenty knots with a good sized wind chop. It got a bit uncomfortable aboard the mighty Starr heading directly into it at nine knots, but at least we were dry in our cl...

I finished my 0100 watch and was soundly sleeping when at 0500 this morning Sharry nudged me awake and said to me 'god you smell fishy!' On my pillow was a flying fish! It's getting warm here so last night we opened our leeward porthole which is only 6'x12'. Somehow this flying fish flew thru the porthole and landed next to me. Do they ever smell!...